Locals in Karainagar protested on Friday against the rape of an 11 year old girl by Sri Lankan navy personnel in the town earlier this week. Marching across the town, locals held placards demanding the Sri Lankan military end their occupation of the Tamil areas. Politicians from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) joined locals in protest. The girl was admitted to Jaffna hospital on Wednesday following the attack.
On Friday all 7 Sri Lankan navy personnel who were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack, were released by the police, citing the 11 year old's inability to identify the perpetrator in a line up.
"How will the child identify him [the perpetrator]," TNA MP Mavai Senathirajah was reported by the Uthayan as saying when addressing protesters on Friday.
"How will she know his name? This shouldn't continue. All the three forces should be driven out from our own lands," he added.
Drawing attention to the wider effects of militarisation across the North-East, S. Kajendran from the TNPF, said "Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists are preying on Tamils at whim."
"Those in the North-East are affected every day [by militarisation]," he added.
TG